Route-indicator for automobiles.



I. J. LINDENTHALBR & LPROTZ ROUTE INDICATOR FOR AUTOMOBILES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 80, 1907.

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P. J. LINDENTHALER a; J rnorz. ROUTE INDICATOR FOR AUTOMOBILES. APPLICATION EILBD NOV. 30. 1907.

915,976. Patented Mar. 23,1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

I UNITED strATEs P TENTOFFIGE;

FRANK J. rLINDENTHALER, 0F GLENS FALLS, AND JOHN PROTZ,. OF L IEW YSRK, Y.

ROUTE-INDICATOR FOB AUTOIOBILIS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented larch 28, 1909.

Application and November to, 1m. sm Ho. mm.

, 5 of-Warren. and State of New York, and-JOHN '..Pno'iz,;. a citirjen of the Em ire. of Austria- Hungary, residing in New. ork, borou h of Manhattan, county and State of New ork,

have invented certain new and useful Im-' provements in Route-Indicators for Automobiles, of which the following is a speci- This invention relates to an attachment for automobiles to which we have given the name of route-indicator and which is driven by'a flexible shaft connecting it with the front axle or front wheel of an auto- "Ifnobile, for the purpose of' forming a guide device by which the route to be traveled is indicated to the chauffeur, so as to prevent thereby to a certain extent the necessit of inguiries for the road to beta en, 0 or vfacilitating the work of a chaufleurnot conversant with the country 2 5"'andrendering thereby the owner of an automobile to some extent independent of the chauffeur; and. for this pu ose the in- ,vnt'ion consists in the nove features of construction-which will be fully described -hereinafterand finally pointed out in the claims. 7

'In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a front-view of our improved r'oute-indicatbr for automobiles, 'Fig. 2 is a -85 front-view with the front'plate removed so as to show the interior construction, Fig. 3 is a side-elevation, partly in'section, ofthe indicator with the'side plate removed, Fig. 4. shows the op osite side ofthe indicator,

40 the op osite s1 eplate being removed, Fig.'

5 is a anview of the route-indicating strip,

., and 1g. 6 isadiagram of the oute as re resented on the route-indicating strip, t e latter servin for the purpose of illustrating the route to e taken.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout theseveral figures.

Referring to the drawings, a represents a rectangular metallic casing, which is. of approximately square shape in horizontal cross-section, and which is provided in, its.

front wall with an oblong glass-covered openmg o.

the casing in'an suitable manner, either hinged or otherwlse. Through the opening;

' route-indicating strip b is provided at its 'said intersections being numbered as in- The glass cover may be applied to o is seen a route-indieatinistrip b on which a certain route, which is to e traveled by the automobile, is graphically represented. The.

outer or start-in end witha ta ring tongue b! which'is attac d to the she of the winding-up reel '14 in any suitable manner, while the main-portion is wound up on a reel 1- and inserted with the same'into the casing of the route-indicator. a

The route-indicating strip is provided at one edge with mile-notations and at the center with heavy lines of different lengths indicatin the direction and distances of the route to e traveled, while the intersecting cross-roads are indicated by intersecting lines inclined toward the right or left as the intersecting roads lie toward the main road,

die'ated in Fig. 5, the distances between the intersections being taken from reliable maps so as to correspond with the mile-indications marked alongl one side of the strip. 6 shows how t e roads are actually'laid out, and Fig. 5 shows how the indications: are. transferred to the strip, which, of a straight and does not conform with the actual curves of the route.

- At the lower edge of the lass cover of the 8 opening 0 is arranged an in ex-hand l in line with the route represented on the routeindicating strip b, and a contact-spring Z- which passes over holes Z in the strip 11, punched at the more 'im rtant intersections, said contact-spring c osing an electric circuit that rings a hell I, as shown diagrammatically in Fig. 3 so as todraw the attention of the cha'ufieur to the fact that important road-intersection is reached. The casing of-the route-indicator is dividedby .a transverse artition a into two chain;

' bers, a reel-cham 1' near the'front opening 01 and a second chamber sidewiseof the same; In the reel-chamber are located the reels f g? for the route-indicating strip, and above t 33 reels the mechanism for mterru t' themotion of the strip, while in the ot er 0 m her is located the mechanism by which motion is transmitted tothe strip. p

At the middle par: of thereel-chamber formed at the leftd: side of the casing is inserted the reel r on which-the route-indieating strip is wound up? One end of the stri is attached to the shaft of the reel 1, w e the outer-end is passed over a drivingroller r, over roimd transverse guide-rods r is located in the lower part of the reel-cham' ber. The route-indicating strip is moved forand over a stationary sheet-metal bridge 1' arranged between the rods 1 and close to the front-opening of the casing, so that the strip will readily show in theopening of the same. The outer end of the strip 6 isthen attached to the shaft of the winding-up reel 2", which ward by the driving-roller r in connection with a presser-roller '11, which is mounted on a spring-actuated lever '11, and which is pressed on the strip by a suitable mechanism which will be described hereinafter. On the shaft of the winding-up reel 1" is arranged a pulley r to which motion is transmitted by an elastic belt 1* from a pulley r, of the same size as pulley 1', on the shaft of the driving-roller- 4- as shown in Fig. 3 so'that rotary motion is transmitted from the driving-roller at the speed of the same to the lower winding-up reel and the strip therebyunwound from one reel and Wound up on the other reel, according to the speed of the machine. When the route'is completed and a new route is to be taken, the reel with the strip wound up thereon is taken out of the casing by removing the side-plate of the latter, and a reel with another route-indicating strip placed in a position in the casing to serve shafts is passedthrough a tubularnipple s I at the lower part of the casing and connected with a worm-spindle 8 The casing is screwed to a bracket on the dashboard or other suitable ointin front ofthe seat of the chauffeur. T e mner end of the. worm-" spindle s is supported in suitable bearin s s at the interior of the casing a and provlded with a worm a between the bearings stand placed in en 'a'gement with a worm-wheel n which turns y a stud-shaftn in a suitable bearing n of the casing, as shown in Fig. 2,

-.., the grooved end of the stud-shaft being retained by a set-screw n which rojects into the groove at the end of the s aft n To the inner surface of the worm-wheel n is applied a disk e which is provided with a dove-tailed recess e in which is guidedv a cross-piece 0 which is clamped in position I, after adjustment in the recess bya set-screw a To thecross-piece e is pivoted a connecting-rod e the'upper end of which is pivoted to the lower endof an invertedU- shaped piece a which is located on an oscillating lever f that is centrally pivoted to a as a guide for pulley o fulcrum-shaft f X attached to the wall of the casing. One endiof the lever f is provided with an adjusting 'screw f that engages a threaded socketl'o'fithe U-shaped piece a, the head of the adjusting-screw being provided with indicating-marks, its shank being retained by a collar f in a'recessed lug'f? of the lever f, as shown in Fig. 4. To the opposite end ofthe lever f is ivoted an eccentric pawl g which is presser by a flat spring 9 into the grooved cireumference of a drivewheel g mounted on the shaft f X so as to impart a step-by-step rotary motion to the same by the oscillating motion of the lever f. On the return motion of the oscillating lever f the drive-wheel g is held by a spring-actuated check-pawl g The shaft f x turns in bearings of the partition a and side-wall of the-casing and serves to support the drivingroller 1 and the pulley r By the oscillating motion imparted to the lever f and the friction-pawl g' intermittent rotary motion is imparted to the drive-wheel g and the driving-roller T and by the latter, belt 7* and pulley r" tothe winding-up) reel 1" and the route indicating strip 1), as efore described. As the roll on the winding-u reel increases in diameter, it-is apparent t at the belt 1* i must sli to a greater or less extent on the this reel, depending on the size of the roll.

The speed of the motion-transmitting mechanism can be adjusted in proportion to the speed of the automobile by adjusting the cross-piece e in its guideway e which is necessary, as otherwise the motion of the routeindicating strip would not correspond with the motion of the vehicle. This is accom- 'plished by setting the adjustable cross-piece e nearer to or farther away from the axis of the worm-wheel n, as will be readily understood. i

The mechanism which holds the lesserroller 11 in contact with the strip consists of a presser-block'i that forms contact with the forked lever t. The shank i of the block '5 passes through a perforated boss on the to plate of the casing a to the outside of t e same, where it is engaged by a cam-lever t, the pivot of which turns in perforated ears 6. located onthe top-plate of the casing a. When the cam is pressed down on the shank of the resser-block if, the latter presses on the strip 1) and holds it in contact with the driving-roller 1' so as to produce the'forward motionof the strip. When the cam-lever i is raised, the cam is released from the shank of the block '27 and the spring which is connected with the lever t lifts the presserroller '5 away from the strip and interru ts thereby the motion of the same. This as to be done when' the automobile arrives at a stopgilngilace and has to move forward and bac ar ormake other motions which have no connection with the route and distance to be traveled. I When theautomobile roceeds on its course, then the cam-lever is owered again so that the proper motion of the route-indicating stri is resumed. The stopping and starting 'evice is also used when the automobile is going into a garage, so as to disengage the strip from the motion-- transmitting mechanism and' remove the wound-up reel from the indicator, while a new reel is put in when going out for-another route. I

When the route-indicating device is properly ad'usted on the automobileand connected by the flexible shaft with the axle or tire and the route-indicating stri placed in proper osition in the reel-cham 'er, it is so Q adjuste that it moves at the rate of two inches to the mile, corresponding exactly to the numberof miles-run by the machine. Consequently, if it is a half mile from the starting-point to the next road-crossin the strip wil travel one inch and then in icate the intersecting road where the machine has to be, moved to the right or left. By the mile-indications alon one side of the stri the miles that have. een traveled are indicated, while besides the road-crossings also the different hotels and other places of interest on the route can be marked on the strip.

When it is not desired to publish a special route-strip for the use of chauffeurs, the? owner of the automobile can also make'a record of his own by taking a blank-strip of aper, placin' it in the machine, and markmg the starting point and then the intersecting points at the right or left, and continuing till the next corneris reached, and

then marking it on the strip and continue marking-the route onthe strip up to the end of the route. When the same route is to be traveled over again, the strip is replaced in the m-achine, and then by watching the strip the route can be covered in the same manner without difficulty, hetlier the chauffeur hasbeen over, it or no so that it is not abso lutely necessary to have a chauffeur con-,

versa'nt with the different routes, while'tl1echanging of a chauffeur is less troublesome than heretofore. For specially favored routes covering) greater distances,- the strips maybe published for the use of automoand ascertain the mileage made by the machine.

Having thus described ourmventlon, we clalmas new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In a route-indicator for automobiles,

.the combination, with the driving-roller and circumference of said drive-wheel, a wormj wheel, a worm for driving said worm-wheel,

and a connecting-rod connected with said oscillatin lever at theend o posite said pawl an adjustably connecte with said Worm-Wheel. v v

2. .In a route-indicator for automobiles, the combination, with the driving-roller and the indicator-strip, of a ivoted spring-actuated lever, a pressr-ro ler carried by said lever, a vertically-guided block to depress said lever so that the presser-roller cooperates with the driving-roller in feeding the indicator-strip, and a camby which said block is depressed.

. testimony, that we claim theforegoing as o r invention, we have signed our names in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FR K J. LINDENTHALERL JOH PROTZ.I 

